Coconut Chicken Curry with Basil

Sometimes, you just want something comforting, yet flavorful.  Complex, yet quick to make.  Savory, with perhaps an ever-so-slight hint of sweetness.  You feeling it yet?  Good, because I've got you covered.

There's a lot going on in this delightful recipe.  You're making your own curry seasoning, for one.  You're also making a sauce, and rice, and sautéing chicken with onion.  Sounding pretty good so far, yes?

Let's get this thing going!

There are a ton of different varieties of curry: wet vs. dry, curry the dish vs. curry the spice blend vs. curry the leaf, red curry vs. green curry vs. yellow curry, etc.  Regarding this recipe, when I say "curry," I'm talking about a blend of seasonings that will flavor our chicken.  This particular blend contains several spices that one might more closely associate with baking along with some more familiar cooking spices.

A positively lovely gang of spices

2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric

Mix all of these together and set aside for now.  We'll come back to you shortly, spice bowl!

Now, we need chicken.  1 1/2 pounds of it.  Boneless, skinless breasts or, for more flavor, thighs.  Whatever you choose, you'll need to cut it into bite-size chunks for easy cooking/consumption.  Once you've chunked your chicken, sprinkle it with your curry spice blend until it's as evenly coated as you can get it.  Let it sit off to the side while you get your veggie type ingredients together.

Pile o' spiced chicken

Begin heating 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Roughly chop a large onion and finely chop a seeded jalapeno.  Add both to the pan to cook for about 3 minutes.  Do not touch your eyes.  No seriously, I once forgot I had been chopping jalapenos and touched my eyes shortly after.  I subsequently wanted to gouge them out.  Be careful, folks!  Mince and 5 cloves of garlic, add to the pan, and cook for another minute.  Here's a fun trick for getting garlic smell off your fingers: run your fingers over the side of your large stainless steel knife a few times (obviously NOT on the cutting edge, but on the wide flat side.)  I don't know why this works but it does.  After you're done trying that out, remove the onion, jalapeno, and garlic from the pan and put it into a bowl. 

In the same skillet, heat another tbsp. of olive oil on medium-high heat.  Add the chicken pieces and brown them until they are no longer pink.  Your kitchen should be smelling amazing by now.  Remove the chicken from the pan and add to the bowl with the onion mix.

Still a bit pink...more cooking needed!

Lower the heat on the skillet to medium and add 1 can of coconut milk (minus a 3 tbsp. that you have placed in a small bowl).  Mix the 3 tbsp. of coconut milk with 2 tsp. of cornstarch.  Add this mixture to the skillet and whisk rapidly to avoid clumps.  This will help to thicken things up.  Add 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce.  Add the chicken and onion mix back into the skillet.  Finally, add 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh ginger and 3 tbsp. chopped fresh basil leaves and heat through for a few minutes. 

Chicken chunks floating in a coconut lagoon...mmm...

Serve your lovely creation over rice and prepare to be amazed at the flavor explosion going on in your mouth!  Feel free to add more chopped basil as garnish.  It really brings the whole dish together and looks pretty as a bonus.

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam